Political Opinion Change in Parent-Adolescent Dyads: The Role of Communication Activities.

Wilson, Donna Warner

Data gathered during the 1980 presidential campaign were analyzed in an effort to establish influence flow between adolescents and their parents concerning changes in opinions of candidates and issues. The data base consisted of a two-wave panel of 501 adolescent-parent dyads from throughout the state of Wisconsin. Twenty-eight mass media and external interpersonal communication variables were factor analyzed separately for the adolescent and parent samples utilizing principal components procedure with varimax rotation. Questions on four campaign issues and two candidate ratings were selected to determine opinion movement and direction. Findings indicated that the influence between parents and adolescents during the election campaign was bidirectional. When the parents did change their opinions, there was a closer similarity of communication activities associated with newspapers and attention to the primaries between themselves and their offspring. (HOD)